Archive for April, 2008
Cooper and I At Coors Field
Some pics from the ‘take your kid to work’ day. And yes, I do think it is within the spirit of the day. My kids go to work with me every Sunday, every Wednesday, and most weekends. I count it an honor that they’ve gotten an inside look at what serving God in a local church looks like. They’ve experienced (and still are) themselves.
So a day at the ballpark is a day to connect with my kid when on some of the other days I’m working or not available. We had awesome seats – two rows up from the left field fence. Add to it that the Rockies won in the bottom of the 8th – makes for a great day at the park. Cooper even found a drug store named after him.
The New Ride
I’m not convinced that God cares what kind of vehicle I drive. I do think He cares that I’m responsible with the money He’s given me and not go in debt.
I say that because as much as I would like to say that God had nothing to do with the purchase of our “New to Us” vehicle…there are certain circumstances of the process I just can’t explain.
After two weeks of research and dickering with car salesmen, I was about done. Going to get a scooter and call it a day. The last exchange about did me in. We go to a place in Denver and it’s got a Xterra but it’s more than what we want to pay. Besides that, when we get there – it’s not really taken care of. It’s got dings and scratches and the carpet is ripped and it smells funny.
As we leave the guys says – “What’s it going to take to get you in this car today?”
“A miracle. It’s poorly maintained and I’ve got two more on my list to look at that are cheaper, in the same mileage range and in better shape.”
Instead he offers us to look at a BMW SUV.
“You can get me in a BMW SUV cheaper than this Nissan Xterra?”
“Oh no, not even close but it’s a nicer car.”
I just got in the car and left. Amy and I laughed for a good three blocks at him. Enough so that I missed my turn where I was supposed to go. No worries. I found another street – Broadway – and just headed up it instead. Here’s where it weird. There’s like 3 used car lots on the road. I recognize a couple of them because of their websites. The third one had a Xterra.
I guess we might as well look.
It had 10,000 more miles but was pristine. New tires, no scratches or dings. The ’02 looked like it was just off the showroom floor. But the price was the same as the one we had just looked at.
Here comes the car salesman..”What’s it going to take to get you in this truck today?”
I think there is a class or secret code that they teach this phrase to every car salesmen. It’s annoying. No other salespeople use it. “What’s it going to take to get this laundry detergent in your basket today?”
I rolled my eyes and he saw it. “Okay. No games. I gotta get rid of this car, I’ve got 14 new ones coming and I don’t have room for them.” He took a few hundred off the price. I shook my head.
He talked me into test driving it while he looked to see what he could do. Amy is still in the car at this point. I walk over to her. She says – you can blame this on me – just tell him I want the loaded one in Castle Rock and what it costs, then let’s leave.
I go back and tell the guy that. He immediately takes $1500 off the price. It’s within $100 of what we got for the Hyundai.
I go back to Amy. “Get out of the car. I think we just bought an Xterra.”
Voila. {The original post had “Viola” as in an instrument or girls name. I guess you could name a girl Voila as well but that’s not the point. This is to better explain the comments below.}
The car salesman name? Jesus.
I’m not making it up.
(Btw – if you’re local and in the market – here they are. Great people to work with.)
Films Shot in Colorado
Ran across this news item this morning. Pretty cool to think about it but I have to admit…if you want an Academy Award, probably ought not to film here.
The Frisco Kid
Die Hard 2
The Cowboys – this John Wayne flick was filmed 10 minutes from our house in Castle Rock!
Cat Ballou
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Cliffhanger
Christmas Vacation
Glen Miller Story – Jimmy Stewart
Ice Castles – with Robby Benson, before he was the voice of the Beast.
Blades of Glory
Independence Day
Ladybugs – if you haven’t seen it…be thankful.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
For The Love of the Game
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
The Searchers
The Shining
True Grit
Many more – check it out.
Draft Day Thoughts
For the first time in a long time Chief fans have a lot to look forward to. They had a great draft. They are still going to be horrible next year…but they’re going to be good soon.
Raiders – any question as to who is making decisions in Oakland? It’s not Lane Kiffin. McFadden is a beast and if he can stay out of trouble, the AFC West will become the division no defense wants to play – LT, LJ or DMac. But clearly the Greatness is still run by Mr. Davis.
My Broncs – solid draft so far. Love the Ryan Clady pick. He’s a beast and he’ll do fine.
Eddie Royal over DeSean Jackson….hmmm. Could be Shanny trying to be the genius. But…with all the character issues that the Broncs have had the last few years, there was no way he was going to risk DeSean over Eddie when talent-wise there wasn’t that much difference. Royal is a mature, solid, stable, fast punt returner. It might have been too early to pick him but Denver didn’t have any 3rd round picks.
I made a big draft day mistake. I recorded NFL Networks coverage of the draft, not ESPN’s. My thinking was – NFL Network is owned by the NFL so they will have the inside scoop.
My thinking was wrong. Plus – there is no one better than Boomer on draft day. Big mistake on my part, I switched over in the middle of the 2nd round. Besides that, NFL Network wasn’t in HD. Overall, a horrendous choice by me. Stick with ESPN on draft day.
The Draft Matters…Unless You’re Cleveland
NFL DRAFT starts at 1 pm local time today.
And yes, I will watch at least the first two rounds. Why? Because this is the oasis in the middle of the football desert. Because it’s full of hope and promise. Because it gives a chance for every team to be a winner today.
Unless you’re Cleveland. Who doesn’t have a pick at all today. Their first pick is in round 4. So all you Browns fans out there – both of you – enjoy Brady Quinn holding a clipboard yet once again for Derek Anderson.
But back to the draft…I love the draft.
I’ll be watching it and making my comments about it later.
Premarital Counseling
They come in holding hands.
I want ‘em to leave with crossed arms.
Seriously, one of my goals is to get them fighting about something. How are they are going to fight? Will they fight fair? Either of them a bully? Either of them cower at the first hint of conflict? Do they stay on topic or stray to other areas that they’ve been dieing to bring up? Will they be quick in making up? Will they ignore it – stuffing it for a later explosion?
No. I don’t shoot for this during the first session. But I do tell them that’s my goal.
The cynical side of me wonders about the usefulness of premarital counseling. We all need POST-marital counseling but honestly, how many of us took premarital counseling seriously? Like I can say anything to some hormonal-crazed man to make him NOT marry that hot woman sitting next to him. Amy and I took about 8 weeks of premarital counseling. But there wasn’t anything that counselor was going to say to get me to call off the wedding. (I guess if Amy revealed that she was a man – that would have done it.) I was thinking of one thing only. And it wasn’t the floral arrangements either.
I see the same stupid look now from other couples. “We’re not going to fight!!” “We were made for each other.” “This is the most wonderful moment of my life.” The glaze of marital bliss covers the eyes and ears. It’s the mental pat on the head of “We’re listening because we’re not rude people.”
All of us.
I’ve got plenty of stories of where the counselor or pastor warned the couple to not marry and I’ve got NO stories of couples actually listening to that advice. NONE. NADA. ZIP.
I’m not anti-marriage. Far from it. I’m not anti-counseling either. But timing is everything isn’t it? I didn’t need help with marriage until I was way down the road of being married and realized – “I don’t have a clue what I’m doing. And I don’t have a clue who this woman is either.”
I’m guessing that premarital counseling started because some parents were trying to delay the inevitable. It’s a vicious cycle. I’m going to repeat with my daughters. They are going to fall in love with some empty-headed baboon and I’m going to force them to go to premarital counseling. I’m then going to slip the counselor $1,000 to do everything he can to wreck the relationship. It won’t matter. Both of them are going to be “so in love” that the Lemming Factor will have already taken hold.
So why in the world do we still do it? It’s better than nothing at all. It’s not going to hurt the marriage. There’s actually a .1 percent chance the couples will actually listen. It gives me (as a pastor) some relational equity for later on in their relationship when they are really going to need some help.
Just another random rant that popped in my head today.
Take Your Kid To Work Day
What do you do if you’re a student pastor?
They go to ‘work’ with me every Sunday and Wednesday night….
Play Xbox all day?
Or maybe…
a Rockies day game against the Cubs?
Go Rocks.
Dealing With Movie Theaters
We are going to rent out a theater for Prince Caspian.
Let me first say this. I’ve heard of guys criticizing this kind of event. Some because we are partnering with the ‘whore of Babylon’ called Hollywood. Others because they think it’s ‘bait and switch’ evangelism. For us – it’s neither. It’s an opportunity for a bunch of us that happen to go to the same church to watch a great movie together and discuss it afterwards.
But that really is neither here or there. What has been baffling to me is dealing with the movie theaters. In Little Rock, I actually new the movie theater manager. Apparently that greased the skids more than I could possibly imagine.
We called a certain theater in town and the conversation went like this…
“I’ll have to check with THE manager to see if you could do this.” LONG PAUSE
Well…then go check.
“He’s not here right now.”
When will he be in?
“I don’t know.”
Is this a hassle for you?
“Yes it is.”
Thanks, we’ll not be calling back.
Another theater was glad to help us. Buy 400 tickets plus a $10 concession package per ticket plus $100 processing fee. Made each ticket around $25 a pop. 20 Mile Theater in Parker finally helped us out. Let us buy all the tickets in their largest theater for $6 a pop. No fees. No additional concessions.
Here’s what I don’t get with the other theaters – how many times can they guarantee a sold out theater? The movie industry isn’t exactly tearing it up right now and I would think that the promise of a full theater would be appealing. Apparently not.
Shaking Scared
Since Amy didn’t get home till 9 last night, I had Cayden with me all day.
So the plan was – she comes to work with me and draws and helps Megan recycle name tags and the like, we grab lunch (Noodles) then go back to the office.
9 times out of 10 – she’s awesome. She’ll come in every now and then with a picture or a laugh and it’s refreshing.
Yesterday was not going to be one of those days. And it really wasn’t her fault. A few weeks ago they had a fire/tornado drill at the school. Cayden FREAKED out when the alarm went off. They called me on my cell phone, I calmed her down but she was doing the sniffling so hard you can’t talk thing. (Ever cried that hard?)
Since that day, she’ll talk about not wearing flip flops to school in case there is a fire or tornado. There has been a few days when she didn’t want to go to school because of the alarms.
So…we get back to the office and the wind is blowing pretty hard. We’re in a metal building so it sounds a lot worse than what it really is but trying telling that to a 5-year old who is terrified of tornadoes. At one point, she’s downstairs crying because she’s scared to go in the bathroom because of the wind.
We get over that, get her calmed down when outside my window I see the Parker Fire Department pull up. They are coming to reinspect our building. So far so good. No meltdown. Then it all breaks loose. The Fire Department has this thing about doorstops. They hate them for some reason. We’re not supposed to use them anywhere.
We’ll…honestly…that doesn’t happen. Ray (senior pastor) sees the Fire Inspector dude and bursts out of his office screaming – “Grab the doorstops! The Fire Department is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Now I think that’s funny. A little inside humor. As I’m going to grab a couple of doorstops, Cayden goes absolutely ballistic.
All she has heard is Ray yelling “The Fire Department is here!” so she thinks the building is on fire and the alarm is about to go off. She is outside her mind in fear. She is screaming, shaking, and crying. She is now clamped on me like a vice grip. I couldn’t peel her off me if I wanted to.
I’m now stuck in a hard place. It’s funny but it’s not. I’m trying to reason with her but she is so hysterical, she’s not believing anything I’m telling her. She sees the fireman come in the building and she reaches another level I didn’t know exist.
It’s not funny anymore.
I can feel her heart pounding like crazy in her chest, her body is shaking, tears are pouring out of her face. She is scared.
I pack up my stuff, head home and we cuddle on the couch the rest of the afternoon.
Didn’t get jack done that I needed to but then again…maybe I did.
Quit Interrupting, We’re Praying
This is part of our weekly journey through the book of Acts. Today is from Acts 12.
Danny and I have talked a lot about prayer the last few weeks. We’ve come to the same decision regarding our prayer life.
We’ve quit praying ‘If it’s Your will.” We’re going to quit acting surprised when He answers.
If you’ve spent anytime in a church building, you’ve prayed this way. It’s how ‘the man’ teaches you to pray. Pray this ‘awesome’ prayer for healing or provision or whatever then at the very end of it, tag on the phrase – “If it’s Your will.” Next week when the prayer is answered, everybody will act all shocked and amazed at what God has done.
Disgusting, really. Completely deflates the prayer. It wussifies prayer.
Someone is going to say – “But the Bible says if you ask anything in the will of God it will happen. That’s why we say it.”
Whatever. That’s what it says but it’s not what it means.
We…no, let me change that…YOU (I’m not saying it anymore) say it because you don’t know what the will of God is and you’re trying to cover your bases. (CYA for all my military friends.) Besides it being a pansy way to pray, I wonder if it’s really prayer to begin with.
If Cayden is hungry or wants something…she doesn’t say ‘Dad, I want something to eat if it is in your will.” “Dad, can I get this game, if it’s in your will?” “Dad, may I stay up late and watch a movie, if it’s in your will?”
She asks. Boldly. Without pretense. She justs asks. If she’s in ‘my will’, the answer will be yes. If not…no. And when I say no, most of the time she’s cool with that. The kids are getting to the place where they trust me to know that there is a reason. They may not get it but they trust me. Most of the time. Sometimes they throw a fit and of course we have to deal with that. Sometimes they say ‘why’ and sometimes I tell them and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I say not right now and sometimes I say yes.
When I say yes – they never act surprised. They’re thankful but not surprised.
It’s humbling and convicting how shallow of a relationship I’ve had with my Spiritual Dad compared to them.
And that is what is going on in Acts 12. Bunch of people praying for the release of Peter and then he actually shows up and interrupts them.
Did they really believe their prayers? Who knows. The point is – they were asking away…I imagined if we could’ve heard them it would have sounded like they were demanding God to get Peter out of this jam. And the teenager that answered the back door was shocked. So shocked she left Peter outside.
God answered anyway. He’s like that.
So I’ve changed the way I pray. No more “If it’s Your will.” No more being shocked.
I’m pretty sure I can keep the first promise. I doubt I’ll ever keep the second.
Missing Amy
Amy went to Orlando this weekend to surprise her mom on her birthday. (Currin Ann isn’t releasing any information on what number birthday this is. It’s a good strategy but when she has a daughter that is in her 30′s, it’s getting harder to believe she’s still 29.)
Of course I got the normal teasing of “bet your tired and ready and for her to come home” and while that is true…it’s not because of what you would think.
I’m tired because after the football game on Saturday we went to the zoo and over to some friends house and stayed up too late. Sunday morning, my dad left the house at 5.30 and not only could I not get back to sleep – I inadvertently woke the kids up tripping around in my room. So by 7 am on Sunday, we were all up and looking at each other like – “now what?”
Sunday night we played Wii to 7.30, did some cleaning up and got in bed earlier than Saturday night but later than what I wanted.
So we are all tired but not of each other.
A friend said to me – “I bet you’re ready for Amy to come home.”
“Yes, I am.”
“It’s hard being a mom, huh?”
I smiled. Misses the point, really.
I mean what has that got anything to do with it? It’s hard being a dad. It’s hard being a kid. In general, life can be just hard. What makes it bearable, fun, enjoyable and meaningful is who you do life with and that’s why I (we) miss Amy. I can cook. I can do laundry. I can clean. I’m an able substitute as ‘mom.’ (I’m not as good but we make do.) But I don’t have another able substitute as a best friend. It’s the relational quotient that we miss…not the stuff she does.
Another thing hit me this weekend – we actually do a lot of stuff together as a family. We had a busy weekend but countless times we looked at each other and said – “Man, wish Aim/Mom was here.” Actually, once the kids found out she went to Epcot they said they wished they were with her.
Any rate, Amy returns home tonight. Be fun to have her around again. I was getting hungry.
The Expensive Last Day of Skiing
Dad and I were running up to Arapahoe Basin for one last day of skiing. For him that would be his 5th day (not bad for a guy who lives in Alabama). It would be my 29th day of the season. To get 29 days in is incredible but not all of them were full days of skiing. One was a one run day, another was a 2-run day – way too cold.
We got a late start out of town which was fine. Gave time for the roads to clear up since we got a few inches of snow the night before.
We got just outside of Georgetown and the roads starting getting a bit icy. I was slowing down – mainly because I saw a SUV catching up with me and I didn’t like the speed he was going. As he passed me – I got a windshield full of slush, snow, and ice and at that exact moment we hit a patch of ice.
We were going 50-55 mph when the back end of my car starting pushing the front end and we were sliding towards the guardrail, spinning. The driver side front bumper slammed into the railing spinning us around so that we got a great look at the oncoming traffic. Suddenly the back end of the car hit the rail which zipped us back around facing the right direction. Since we were both wearing our seatbelts, it wasn’t a huge shock of a crash. I could feel the car wanting to go around one more time but somehow I managed to get control of it and headed for the median. The engine was dead. A quick look up revealed that traffic was coming. The SUV that flew by me was nowhere to be found.
And the airbags never went off.
Sometime in the middle of the spin, Dad and I actually had a conversation.
I said – “I’m okay. I’m not banged up or anything.”
Dad said – “I am too but we’re not out of this yet.”
As we rested in the median and evaluated the damage – we had to admit we were pretty fortunate. There were no other vehicles involved. There were no leaks from the engine, oil pan, or radiator. The engine cranked right up and we headed to the next exit for a closer inspection and to relax.
After some time at a gas station and filing a police report, we decided we might as well get a half day of skiing in. (As an aside, A-Basin was a decent place to ski. Lots of advanced and expert terrain. Montezuma Bowl is a great addition to the place. It’s not a ‘family-friendly’ place in terms of the terrain. With only a couple of green runs – you’d be better off taking your newbies to Copper or Winter Park. But if you are a bowl addict and love steep terrain – this is your place.)
On one hand I have every reason to be thankful. And I am. Dad and I walked away unscathed. The car took the most damage and cars can be replaced. There were so many things that could have gone wrong and didn’t. I thank God for all the details I can see and especially those that I can’t.
On the other hand, I’m just ticked as all get out. I saw the SUV coming up behind me and was slowing down to avoid exactly what happened. I wasn’t speeding, I was driving slower than the flow of traffic, and I was trying to be cautious. It just wasn’t enough. The 10 seconds of total lack of control was the most humbling, terrifying 10 seconds of my life.
Today I got the damage report on the Hyundai – $7700. Mainly because the frame of the car is bent. I’d rather deal with my insurance company on this than hospital bills.
Last Days At Copper
My dad was in town for a conference so he came a few days earlier to close out the season with us. We spent two days at Copper. Had 6 inches of powder the first day. Only 4 inches the next. 
Here are some of our favorite pics of the time.
After a couple of runs, Cayden was done. She’s not a huge fan of the cold, blowing snow. So while we were skiing, Caydo was bustin’ a move back in the lodge.
Here we are warming up after a long day of skiing.
This was the view going home just outside of Evergreen, Colorado looking to the west towards the Continental Divide.
Book Review: The Bourne Legacy
I thought I stray over into some fiction this time around. I almost wish I hadn’t. Eric Van Lustbader tries to pick up where Robert Ludlum left off and while he doesn’t do a terrible job…it’s not a great one either. Ever seen a great movie that did so much better than anyone could have thought so they decided to make more without really thinking through it? This is the book form.
We find David Webb/Jason Bourne teaching at Georgetown University. He’s married, got a couple of kids but we never see them during this story. An attempt is made on the life of David Webb which launches Jason Bourne back to the forefront and what ensues is an around the world jaunt to find the terrorists who’ve made this super weapon of mass destruction.
What made the Bourne trilogy so appealing was that he wasn’t James Bond. He’s not going to get the girl because he doesn’t really know who he is and we are on the journey with him. There may be some devilish bad guy who is set on ruling the world but that’s not Bourne’s problem to solve. He is his problem to solve. And most of the time what he finds, he doesn’t like. Neither do we but at least we feel the conflict of that with the character and we get to watch him make sense of it and resolve it. We like the story because we see a character who doesn’t like who he has become and he’s desperately trying to change that.
The other thing was even though the escapades and action sequences were incredible – they were at least in the realm of possible.
This book never seems to capture that. It’s not a bad book. It’s just reads more like James Bond than Jason Bourne.
Overall, a decent book but not great. 2.5 out 5 stars.
You Got Some ‘Splaining To Do
This is part of our weekly journey through the book of Acts. Today is from Acts 11.
We need more ‘you’ve got some ‘splaining to do’ moments in church. Moments when people hold up their hands, raise their voice and say – “Would you mind telling me what the heck is going on here and why ‘we’ are doing it?” I know of a church in the San Jose, CA area that is partnering with one of the most liberal gay organizations in the Bay Area to help fund and run an AIDS crisis center for families. Needless to say they’ve been asked why in the world are they doing that.
Here’s their answer – because it’s right and good and Godly to be the hands and feet of Jesus to AIDS patients – our modern day lepers. We’re not compromising our beliefs on homosexuality or drug use or anything else. We are saying that no matter what you’ve done or where you’ve been Jesus loves you and is available to you.
Needless to say there are people who will never attend or support that church because of this relationship. And honestly, it’s their loss, not the church’s.
It’s a similar situation in Acts 11 with Peter. He’s not just visited an uncircumcised Gentile, he’s “allowed” him to accept Jesus (like Peter or anyone else could’ve stopped it). The “natives” are now restless and demand an explanation.
I’ve got to give Peter some credit. He handles it maturely and redemptively. Instead of coming back combative and argumentative, he patiently walks them through the story from the beginning and answers their questions. Peter’s maturity doesn’t just diffuse a potentially explosive situation, he sets the course of mission work for the Church from now on. It also sets the stage for the most influential leader in Christian History – Saul/Paul. (I know, it’s not really Peter but rather the Spirit of God.)
Barnabas (there’s a great teaching series here – the life of Barnabas) hears of this work of God and immediately starts connecting some dots. “You know who would be awesome at reaching the Gentiles? Saul. Yes, that Saul – the former Christ-follower killer/Jewish scholar/Pharisee Saul.” Which was another one of those – “You’ve got some ‘splaining to do” moments.
See…we need more of them. It’s how God changed the world.
Flag Football, Week 2
Another week, another lesson in the politics in of little league.
As we were warming up, I kept looking for the team we were supposed to play because I knew we couldn’t be playing that team of 11 year olds who looked like the cedars of Lebanon.
I was wrong. Dead wrong.
The director said – “Well, they should have moved up to the next league this year but they didn’t want to. They’ve been playing together for 3 years now, since they were 8.”
At the end of the season, I’ll write down my thoughts on the ‘system’ but I knew none of that was going to help my team get over the intimidation factor. The first half was brutal. It was practice for them. They scored like 9 jillion times. My guys were just starstruck.
Halftime we sat around, drank our juice boxes.
“So…what did you learn?”
“They are older than us. They are bigger than us. They are killing us.”
“True. But they aren’t better than you. You just wigged yourselves out. Ready to go out and try it again?”
Much better second half. We played them even until the last play of the game when they pulled out an incredible run for a touchdown. And it was an incredible run. We had a goal-line stand. We moved the ball up and down the field. Cooper had another touchdown, this time as a receiver.
At the end of the game, one of the kids said – “Hey…we did alright in the second half.”
“No, you did awesome in the second half. That’s the ‘best’ team in the league and they should have been promoted to the other league. You did awesome.”
Now, my thoughts on i9 sports league. So far, I’m not impressed. It’s a great concept poorly run. The idea is that you show up an hour early for your game and practice. It keeps families from having to run all over the place during the week for practice. Great idea but beyond that, they have some major holes in how they run things.
First, both teams we’ve played so far have been together for at least 2 years and have older kids on their team. My team for example has mainly 8 and 9 year olds, with Cooper being the only 10 year-old. Half the team are rookies, none of them have played together ever. The league is set-up with the two extremes – those that start the year knowing what they are doing and those that don’t. It also could lead to stacked teams – although this isn’t as noticeable in football as it would be in basketball or baseball.
A better option would be to have a field day with 8 or 9 drills with every kid in the league/division running through the drills with the coaches observing. After the drills, coaches sit in a room and have a draft. If a coach wants his own kid on the team, that’s their first round pick. I actually saw this work in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The second big request would be to pair rookie/inexperienced officials with vets. Last week we had two vets. This week – two rookies. It showed. It puts us as coaches in awkward places when we know the rules of the game better than they do. It sets us up to correct them and that’s not exactly what we want our kids to observe.
The last observation is the age span. 7 to 10 is to big of a gap developmentally – physical and mental. It’s obvious inside a huddle. Shorten the age gap, let kids compete with other kids their age.
But for now…we keep chuggin and keep getting better.
The War Wound
Here it is. See – it’s no big deal but it did bleed like crazy. It looks much better 3 days later that what it did when it first happened.
Same Lesson, Different Personality
This is part of our weekly journey through the book of Acts. Today is from Acts 10.
Saul had to be blinded in order to see what God was up to. Peter would need no less of a dramatic lesson to see it.
Just as Saul had stood on his own righteousness, so does Peter. “I’ve never eaten anything that was not kosher, Lord.” You’d think by now, Peter would have learned that whenever you answer Jesus with a “no” you’re pretty much in the wrong. Peter works from his understanding of God to derive his ‘no’ and Jesus has to expand his understanding.
We are no different. More precisely – I’m no different. The more I study and meditate on the words of Jesus, the better I think I am to make decisions. Yet, I’m consistently faced with the real Jesus who is more messy and real than I first realized.
Another random thought from this passage – God’s working both ends toward the middle. Unbeknown to Peter, God is working and speaking through a Roman commander. It’s a key part to the story because Peter’s assumption is that God only works with and through the Jew. God can only use the holy, the set-aside, the devout. He’d never use a pagan war-monger.
He’d never use a student.
He’d never use a black man.
He’d never use an HIV-infected homosexual.
Would He? At the least, He’d never use that kind of person to speak to me…to teach me…would He?
Figure out the kind of people that you know God could never use and you’ve just picked how God will speak to you next.
So Peter heads toward the Roman commander’s house. He remembers his last encounter with the Roman military. They were beating Jesus. Gambling over his clothes. Spitting at him. Nailing him to a cross.
As painful as the memories were, here was irrefutable proof that God was working in and through the pagan Gentile. So maybe this soldier wasn’t so pagan after all. The Spirit of God in the living room of a Roman commander, connected to Jesus just like Peter. We’ve spoke about the issue of tongues before and it bears repeating here. Every time the Spirit moves in Acts to cause tongues to speak, it points to Truth – not emotion. It points to Jesus, not the experience.
When Peter leaves Cornelius he knows that “the Way of Jesus” would never be the same again. Christ had come for and to the Gentiles.
There would be repercussions as Christianity would learn that it’s Jesus that sets the agenda for the Church, not humanity. They’d wrestle with their own traditions and assumptions in the same way the Pharisees had to do.
But God had spoken clearly through the life change of Saul and Peter…and the Church would never be the same again.
Rock Chalk!!
The greatest college basketball game I’ve ever watched. Ever.
Danny Manning – got him another one!
Thanks for all the text messages and phone calls from my Kansas family!!!!!
Rock Chalk, Jayhawks K U
Rock Chalk, Jayhawks K U
Rock Chalk, Jayhawks K U
Rock Chalk, Jayhawks K U
Rock Chalk, Jayhawks K U
Danny and The Trees
Another ski day with Danny last week. The first generated so much dialog I thought I’d share about this one as well.
First, somehow, someway we were like the 6th or 7th chair up the mountain. It’s got to be some kind of miracle but there we were waiting for the lines to open.
Second, while there was a John Denver reference during the day, no one busted out into song nor was there a conversation about him. That automatically made it a good day.
There was an inch or two of powder on the slopes, it warmed up to 41 degrees and the big discussion point was the overacting but cool voices of certain actors. AntonioBan Deras being one of them. he always says his name that way – putting the first syllable of his last name with his first name, then pausing before finishing it off with ‘Deras.’ He’s the only guy on the planet to be able to pull that off. If you think I’m kidding – try it with your own name.
GrantEng Lish. Doesn’t remotely work. I had a former student make fun of the way I say my name. She said I pronounced it “Gran Tenglish” really emphasizing the “T” of Grant. My response was – it’s my name so I’ll pronounce it the way I want. I’m guessing AntonioBan Deras would say the same thing. Except he’s cooler.
“Oh yesssssssss, he issss.” With the “Oh” said very fast and the ‘s’ of the yes sliding into eternity. It’s the coolest accent in the world and I dare anybody to disagree. Ricardo Montalban has the same thing going on. It’s the whole Spanish thing going on. It makes anything sound sexier than what it really is. I mean, what else can explain all the bottles of Nasonex in my house?
Danny noted that you can’t really talk about Ricardo without talking about William Shatner (Star Trek: Wrath of Khan) which led to many hours of William Shatner moments.
Danny continued, “It’s rare that two actors with such over the top voices and acting appeared in the same movie. Can you imagine a movie that had both AntonioBan Deras and Ricardo Montalban?”
G: “They were. Spy Kids 2.”
Danny gave me approximately the same look I gave him when I learned he had John Denver on his iPod.
I started my defense immediately. “My kids love the movie. Personally, I’ve never seen it from beginning to end. Honestly.”
Somehow this leads us to Christopher Walken. Again, I’m not sure how we got there but got there we did. Danny does a spot on impression of Christopher Walken doing the “Cowbell” Skit of Saturday Night Live.
Most of the day was spent with us speaking in one of these voices and saying “Oh yessssss” way to many times.
The last run of the day provide some drama for us…well, mainly me. I took off through the trees on the last run and cut one of the corners a wee bit too tight. On the back side of the tree (the blind side) was a branch. It felt like someone had popped me in the face with a switch. It hurt a little, messed up my helmet a bit and fogged up my goggles. So I cruised to the edge of the trees, plopped down to rearrange my goggles and helmet as they were now all cock-eyed and fogged up.
A snowboarder comes screaming up beside me.
“Dude…are you okay?”
I look around, he’s talking to me. “Oh yeah, just getting my goggles unfogged.”
“Are you sure? Just relax for a bit.”
I start laughing. “I’m fine, man. Thanks for checking on me.” And stay off the drugs.
“Just relax and you might need a stitch or two. In fact, I’ll go get ski patrol.”
It occurs to me at this point that I may be the one clueless. I reach down grab a handful of snow and place it where the branch popped me in the face. Blood. And lots of it. I look back up in the trees and in fact there is a pool of blood with a trail leading to me.
The snowboarder is white and I’m having to calm him down.
“It’s probably a scratch. You know how bad some cuts bleed. It’s okay.”
After a few minutes of snow pressed on the face, the bleeding had stopped. It was about a half-inch gash along my cheekbone. The snowboarder stayed there the whole time. We hugged and exchanged email addresses.
Okay, that last line was a lie but that is where I felt like this thing was going. To be honest if the shoes were reversed, I’d done the same thing – stay there until I knew he was okay.
This whole time, Danny is on the phone with his bride clueless to what was going on. I catch up with him and he sees the blood and says in his AntonioBan Deras voice…
“Oh yesssss. A beautiful battle wound to woo your beautiful lady.”
G: “Unfortunately what I’m going to hear from said beautiful lass is something along the lines of “that’s why I hate skiing in the trees.”
We ended our day debating which of the voices – Shatner, Walken, Banderas, or Montalban – would we want to narrate our life story?
I picked AntoinoBan Deras. With Christopher Walken in second place.
Downtown Denver Lunch Club
Yesterday we had our first Downtown Lunch Club meeting at Pizza Colore Express.
DDLC is a bunch of guys that go to Pinecrest but work in downtown. It came about almost by accident. I was eating lunch with Danny one day and I mentioned that Steve and Chip worked nearby. Danny said – ‘we should have invited them.’ I said what about next month. Danny asked if there were any other people working downtown. I then said and what if we had a topic to talk about – like a leadership principle or something and viola – it was born.
So Steve, Danny, Jay, Chip and I sat around great pizza and calzone to answer this question: What’s a leadership principle you’ve learned in the workplace that had a direct spiritual application. The goal was to get a working list of topics to discuss over the next few months.
Instead we found ourselves camped around one idea – how destructive and unhealthy a SEGMENTED worldview was to life. So many of us catch ourselves functioning in silos – one for work, one for family, one for church, one for friends, one for hobbies. How much healthier it was to have an integrated worldview that didn’t see the lines as clear. We talked about the dangers of that as well and how really ancient most of the ‘new’ business principles really are anyway.
It was a great lunch. I learned a lot as well as had an awesome lunch.
Book Review: Flight: My Life In Mission Control
Flight is the autobiography of Chris Kraft, NASA’s first flight director. I know what you’re thinking – NASA + rocket science + an administrator as the author = boring book. Wrong. Kraft tells you how it was and what he thought through every step of the program AND he names names. It’s not a politically correct look at our space program which is part of what makes this book so good.
The other part is the incredible insight on leadership and risk.
Some nuggets from Kraft:
Ruthlessly evaluate everything. After every mission, exercise, test and simulation he gathered all the principles and had a “Sweaty Palms Session.” It’s a no-holds barred critique of every aspect of the activity. No one is immune from criticism and there are no job titles or position once the session begins. EVERY SINGLE PERSON got held under the microscope.
Even the Flight Director – who is basically God on space missions. No one can question his authority or orders during a mission. He is the final say of every single issue. Once the mission is over, he sits in the Sweaty Palms Session just like every one else and takes his medicine. If you couldn’t handle that kind of honesty and evaluation, you weren’t needed at NASA. Instead of alienating co-workers and creating a cut-throat culture, it did the opposite. They had an atmosphere of utmost trust and purpose. The focus was on getting better, not stroking egos. “The mission is more important than me.”
Simple is better. This was about both rocket-design and the leadership structure of an organization. Kraft notes that most of the fixes on spacecraft were simple. It’s not that they were opposed to big, extravagant fixes. It’s just that the more extravagant the fix, the more new problems it seemed to create.
This same principle applied to the leadership structure at NASA. Kraft notes that the early years of NASA were so effective in terms of time and money because they flatlined the authority structure. There were no levels of buerocracy to fight through or politicians to please. The mission was the job and whatever advanced the mission was quickly implemented and adopted. As NASA grew and added more committees and more politicians, they not only lost their effectiveness but their vision and purpose. You can sense Kraft’s hatred of what NASA had become after Apollo. He hated it because vision was replaced with politics.
Kraft noted that the lower down the hierarchy an idea originates, the better it is. The higher up the chain of command, the more out of touch it is. Kraft was adamant that front-line personnel make flight policy and procedures, not administrators. The higher-ups tend to make policies for themselves, the front-line people tend to make decisions for the betterment of the mission.
There is safe, then there is too safe. Kraft noted many times in the book that there was a limit to being safe. The very mission was to explore space, put men on the moon. None of that is safe and anyone who signed up to be a part of that knew that. In fact, the risk was part of the reason they were signing up in the first place. Kraft walked the line of not being afraid to take risks versus putting yourself needlessly at risk. The US could have beat the Russians into space but politicians made things too safe – like sending multiple missions of chimps into space. Kraft notes that now we know that the US was technology ahead of the Russians in every aspect of the space race since Sputnik. The difference was the Soviets took risks – some would argue needlessly.
Kraft points out a couple of missions where they were being too safe and it almost ended up being more dangerous.
Vision is what drives people. Not policies. Kraft ends his book with a series of questions that probably critique current space exploration more than any diatribe. He asks when will we being going to Mars? What’s the big goal of NASA and space exploration right now? The silence screams more than anything else. When asked about the justification of spending the money on that in light of wars, homelessness, poverty, and other social needs, Kraft cuts to the core. With out the space race, there would be no remote monitoring of health patients, laptop computers, countless other technological advances that have helped our world. The residual of the space race was good for all. Kraft said he couldn’t imagine living through the ’60s without the space race. It seemed to be the only good, unifying, constructive thing occurring in that decade.
If you are a space-geek, loved Apollo 13 and From The Earth To The Moon – get this book and read it.
The Cure For When You’ve Become What You Hate
This is part of our weekly journey through the book of Acts. Today is from Acts 9.
Such is Saul’s situation and he doesn’t even know it at the start of Acts 9. He’s become what he hates. He is the Jew’s Jew. Educated, pious, passionate. He’s a man of action in a culture of words. He doesn’t just speak for God, he lives for God and isn’t afraid to take radical steps FOR God – like hunting down the pagan cultists who are disobeying and dishonoring the Lord God Almighty. They don’t have on their heart and mind the things of God! They won’t listen to reason so maybe they will listen to justice.
Saul hates this new sect of “Jesus Freaks” because they don’t know the real, true God and they are distracting from His work and purpose on the earth.
So God holds up a mirror and it blinds Saul.
It’s just like God to cut to the chase – “Saul, why are you persecuting ME?” Not those people or even “my people” but me…personally. Why are you attacking me?
“Who ARE you, Lord????”
In that split second, Saul’s secure theological structure hung in the balance. He was convinced he was talking to God but not the one he thought he knew. This God was both more dangerous and more loving than he imagined. It was a question of more than just identity…but of character.
It’s easy to understand the uneasiness and hesitancy of Ananias and the Apostles in reaching out to Saul. Saul was not just the San Hedrin’s chief henchman, he was also “the Axe.” It’s easy to understand the Jew’s reaction to Saul’s change of heart – kill him. What’s hard to get is Saul’s decision in the middle of this drama. His course of action shows a maturity and a passion for God seldom seen.
He’s stuck between two worlds – the world of Judaism that he’s leaving and the world of Christ-followers he’s joining. It’s a situation that many young followers find themselves in. The void between the life without Jesus and with Him. It’s in the void we begin to feel the full measure of what it costs to follow Jesus. Saul knew firsthand what to expect. He chose it anyway. He had to know there would be a slow acceptance of him into the circle of faith….he chose Jesus anyway. He knew what it would cost him professionally and personally…he chose Jesus anyway. Great model for those facing the same situation today. Chose Jesus anyway.
In the void between the two worlds Saul clings to the truth…the truth that answered that his question “who ARE you?” Jesus. Both his experience and his beloved Scriptures point to it…demand it. Instead of holding up until the rest of the Christ-following community believes him, he clings to his answer – Jesus. He goes to the place he is most familiar with – the synagogues – to share the Truth…Jesus.
We’ve asked all these years – “Who are you, God?” We’ve wondered about the smell, look, taste, and feel of God. We’ve wondered what would it look like to know and see God. Here’s the answer – Jesus. Saul’s experience matches his knowledge of the Scriptures.
Who are you, God?
You are Jesus.
Why April Sucks
Today…April Fools Day. Who’s bonehead idea was this day anyway?
The end of March Madness. Only 3 more games left.
Tax Day.
Our car registration is due and emissions test. (This of course is not universal.)
Pollen. Much better here in Colorado. In fact, hardly any at all. Arkansas was the worse. It would rain yellow for the whole month.
Sunday afternoon TV is about NASCAR and golf. (One exception to this is the Masters. I love watching the Masters especially in HD.)
Baseball starts off with a bang (opening day) but then quietly becomes meaningless until after the All-Star break.
The end of ski season.
The beginning of lawn maintenance season.
Sigh.